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Humanitarian Linguistic School #23, Vladimir, Russia
Teacher: Galina Mishina
We can get to the park by trolley-bus or by bus. From the bus stop we can see the entrance to the park. There are two gates, the larger gate is closed and the smaller gate is always open. There are large letters over the gates, they are red on white plastic squares: "Welcome". The letters are not very bright, they look dim and weather-beaten.
In front of the gates there are three horses, they are brought to the park entrance every Saturday and Sunday. If you pay for a ride, the girls who take the horses to the park will help you climb on the horseback and then they will lead the horse along the park fence. Two of the horses are large - a brown one and a black one with a white sock on the front leg. The third horse is a pony, it has bright eyes and a long tail, its mane is fluffy. The pony is moving its ears, it doesn't want to stand still. Children give it bread, but the girls are not pleased when children just feed the pony and don't want to have a ride on it. The horses look healthy and clean and their smell is strong but rather pleasant.
We walk in through the smaller gate and enter the park. There are several white columns near the entrance, between the columns there are two white statues - a worker with a brick in his left hand and a woman with a large sheaf of wheat in her hands. Little children are playing around the statues, running and screaming loudly. When they try to climb up the statues their hands and clothes become dirty with whitewash.
Three long alleys begin at the entrance, there is a birch tree alley, a maple alley and a larch alley. The birch alley is the most beautiful one, we like the straight white trunks and yellow leaves. The weather is not very warm today, so there are no people sitting on the benches in the alley, but children are riding bikes.
There is much litter around the benches, the alley doesn't look tidy besides there's nasty smell in the air. The smell of animals. There they are in small cages under the birches. There is a small fox, two rabbits, a porcupine, a monkey and a parrot. The cages are too small for the animals, the fox is walking back and forth in its cage, but it can make only few steps and is turning constantly. Two grey rabbits look happier, they are eating cabbage leaves, moving their noses in a very funny way. The porcupine is sleeping. It looks very strange with its long quills. The monkey is sitting in its messy cage, looking at people with large brown eyes, children throw pieces of apples in its cage, but it is waiting for sweets. It can easily open a sweet, throw away the paper and greedily eat the sweet. With its long thin fingers it looks very touching. A boy is sitting near the cages, there is a box at his feet, people throw money for the animals into this box. We throw some coins too.
As we walk further along the alley, we pass a playground for little children. It is not large, there are two swings, a merry-go-round and a slide. There is a little wooden house with doors and windows too. Children are running in and out, they are climbing on the roof and jumping down a short staircase. We hear the squeaky swings, the voices of the children playing here and the noise of sparrows. They have chosen the playground for their meeting, they are not afraid of people and are hopping all around us.
All the three alleys lead to a large square with a fountain in the middle of it. In
summer when the weather is hot children like to bathe in the fountain, now it's too cold
for that but the fresh smell of water in the air is very pleasant and we enjoy it.
The fountain is round, strong spurts of water are high over the basin,
though it is autumn and the sky is grey we have a joyous feeling
watching the fountain.
There is a roller-coaster at the other side of the fountain but it is not working. The cars were once painted red, now they look drab, some paint is coming down from the metal sides, they are cold to touch. There are some yellow leaves inside, carried there by the wind from the near-by birches.
A woman in a warm coat is selling ice-cream near the fountain, but we don't feel like eating any ice-cream, it's quite chilly and we'd rather have a hot pie or some hot coffee.
So we leave the square with the fountain, turn to the right, cross a lawn with lots of yellow leaves in the grass and walk out into a busy street through a large hole in the fence. Our trip is over, we have felt the touch of autumn today!
Humanitarian Linguistic School #23
Grade 7 students
Teacher: Galina Mishina
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